The Devil is a Better Theologian

By Craig Ashton Jr., June 17, 2023

In his book Man: The Dwelling Place of God, A. W. Tozer said, “The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still” (p. 35). I find this statement startling. James made a similar point when he said, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19).

Theoretically, the devil is a better “Christian” than any of us, so beliefs that are intellectually orthodox may not necessarily be efficacious. It’s possible for one to have the correct theology and quote the right Bible passages but never never change oneself via accepting the love of God. The devil is intellectually spiritual, as he came quoting scripture in the desert to tempt Jesus (Matthew 4:6). You might say the devil misapplied the Bible for his own purposes, yet even when sharing a Bible verse and recognizing its proper context, one can still misrepresent the author. Some Christians know the Bible well and use it to beat people over the head. We Christians misrepresent God when we fail to share the Bible in the right tone, giving it the coloring and bitterness of the devil.

We can believe all the right things and quote all the right Bible verses and never come to love the truth about God. The Pharisees had this problem. They held the correct theology and went through all the right religious motions but condemned people with their moral superiority, completely missing the point of it all (Luke 18:11). On the other hand, Jesus felt compassion and love toward others and went about doing good (Matthew 9:36). We weren’t there to see how Jesus looked or hear the tone of His voice when He spoke to those He disagreed with. Jesus was against paganism, injustice, and many other bad habits, but if you read the Gospels’ descriptions of His warnings and rebukes, you will find that there were tears in His voice when He uttered them (Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41–42).

While our beliefs about God are important, what a difference it would make if we allowed Jesus to define our theology so we could show the truth about who God is. What is God’s character like? He is revealed as loving and compassionate, gracious and long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, and forgiving of all kinds of sin, but He isn’t blind (Exodus 34:6–7). If we fail to fall in love with who God really is and bear fruits to that, we may fool ourselves into thinking that our internal thoughts and beliefs will save us. After all, “the devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still.” To transform both our hearts and actions, we need not recognize theological facts but must surrender to the love of God.

So, if the devil is theoretically a theologian that both believes and shudders yet remains a devil, what does that say about the beliefs I hold? If I take Christ for granted than the faith I possess is equally problematic.

Craig Ashton Jr.